After the civil war ended resulting in northern victory reconstruction started to take place in the south. Due to the fact African Americans were now free citizens and many other changes were occurring in the South the status of African Americans changed as well. African Americans were now free however they were considered second-class citizens and were very poor.
This was the system that southern landowners used to adjust to the changes brought about when slaves had freedom. Sla... ... middle of paper ... ...song sung by the slaves. Blacks were forced to use separate Hotels, Transport and schools and were treated as second class citizens. In states where the laws had not changed, violence and intimidation were used to scare black people away from voting and living free lives! Some aspects of life did improve for the Blacks like The Freedmen’s Bureau and Sharecropping organisations but the general lifestyle of the black people did not improve.
The Civil Rights Movement had somewhat similar goals to post Civil War Reconstruction, but their amount of success varied greatly between the two . After the end of the Civil War, Congress was comprised of mostly Radical Republicans who wanted to help African Americans in the South. They passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which allowed black freedmen the same rights as white men, such as being able to sue and be on jury. In order to make sure that these rights would remain, the 14th and 15th amendments were ratified. The 14th Amendment guaranteed black people citizenship, and the 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote .
Despite the progressions, the promise of Reconstruction and the 13th-15th amendments was far from fulfilled. It remained a tough life for the ex-slaves. The political influence of blacks was significantly enhanced by the revolutionary amendments passed in the 1860s. The thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments expanded black rights to an unprecedented extent, affording them rights equal to those of an average white man. The 1868 fourteenth amendment, giving “all persons born or naturalized” in the Union national citizenship, meant blacks should be protected equally by law and stand on a jury; the 15th amendment, giving them the vote, naturally followed in 1870.
The black codes suggested that the blacks were still the inferior race, and they also show the reluctance the south had to change their lifestyle after the Civil War. The black codes returned political, social, and economic power to the white southerners. Black codes also affect us today. If black codes were never enforced during reconstruction, black people would have been able to be a part of the government much sooner than they did. They would have been able to vote, marry interracially, work where they wanted, and get an education.
The military Reconstruction Act guaranteed the right to vote for the African American make, encouraging them to participate in conventions. “The South Carolina constitutional convention -which included 58 men who were once enslaved” (Hillstrom 55). Many states have started eliminating discrimination against freed slaves, and providing equal rights as every white citizen. As more and more state law was more soft towards them, many African American populations were engaging in the election process electing their own people to represent them. “…every former Confederate state elected at least some black delegates, and most states elected African Americans in about the same proportion as their population.
However, this city was flooded with new African Americans, and it, like many others, became an identifiably black city. Even nonsegregated schools consisted of mostly black students. The white population began to dwindle in these c... ... middle of paper ... ...bvious that the Caucasians were slowly easing into the idea that blacks could be treated as equals. However, African Americans still had a long way to go before that could be achieved. Despite the prejudicial laws and feeling cast towards African Americans, their culture began to flourish during the revolutionary period of time known as the Harlem Renaissance.
The end of the civil war should’ve marked a major turning point for the position of African Americans. The north’s victory marked the end of slavery and in addition, the fourteenth and fifteenth amendment guaranteed African Americans full civil and political equality. However, the end of the civil war and the beginning of the reconstruction era was seen a ‘false dawn for the slaves in the former confederacy and border states. 1865 saw the creation of the freedman bureau to provide food, shelter and medical aid and land to ex- slaves. The passing of the 1866 freedman bureau act over President Johnson’s veto meant an extension of work of the bureau.
The writers of the petition believed two things: that the South Carolina government’s emphasis on state’s rights would never give blacks their long deserved property, and that the constitution now applied to them because they were free from slavery. In response, Washington created the Freedmen 's Bureau to guarantee African Americans a chance at the pursuit of happiness, and passed the 14th amendment under the constitution to secure the rights of African-American citizens. The intervention of the federal government in the south was a godsend for its black population, and the first time it has encompassed those of a different race. Senator Lot Morrill in congress recognized the Constitution’s new moral code, and in a passionate speech proclaimed, “We have revolutionized this Constitution of ours to that extent...” (Doc F). Morrill, in response to the Civil Rights bill being passed to help protect the rights of black citizens, understood the new responsibilities of the Constitution, and supported them fully.
Did Racial Segregation Improve the Status of African Americans? “Whites were there because they chose to be; blacks were there because they had no choice.” (p. 158) This quote, from the essay written by Howard N. Rabinowitz, encompasses many, if not all of the ideas that go along with racial segregation. It is a well-known fact that racial segregation did create a separate and subordinate status for blacks, however, seeing as how at the turn of the century the integration of blacks and whites was a seemingly unrealistic idea, segregation could be seen as somewhat of an improvement from the blacks’ previous position in the U.S. as slaves. “Everything is forgiven in the South but color”. (p. 159) On the contrary to the above ideas, this quote, spoken by a black woman in Alabama, and seen in Leon F. Litwack’s essay opposing the idea that segregation improved the status of African Americans; shows how blacks in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were characterized by increased inequality because of their skin color.